WOB eNews: February 2010

2010 Events Calendar: http://www.womenonboards.org.au/my/events/

A new event on the calendar is the Women on Boards presentation evening for our WOB Art Prize. This is being held in association with the Sydney based community TAP Art gallery on Wednesday 10 March. Registration is $33 and available via the website. Good food and a fun night out in support of women artists.

In the rest of enews

  1. Boardroom Diversity Index
  2. Are you following the WOB WAY?
  3. Are you reading the weekly board vacancies?
  4. Do you need a diversity speaker?
  5. Career tips: The gender pay gap
  6. Article of the month
  7. In the Boardroom
  8. Profile of the month
  9. Supported events     

1. Boardroom Diversity Index

Women on Boards will launch its new Boardroom Diversity Index on International Women's Day (8 March) to kick start effective measurement and reporting of women’s participation on a wide specturm of boards. The Index will track the number of women on the boards of ASX200 companies, credit unions, superannuation funds, national sporting bodies, top government business boards, Cooperative Research Centres and the rural research and development corporations. Our aim is to benchmark women's participation and provide annual data to the market place. In addition WOB will name and shame those organisations without any women on their boards. We have already done this with ASX Boards at: http://www.womenonboards.org.au/news/media091207.htm

HELP: We need some good case studies on how ASX200 companies are responding to the diversity requirements of Principle 2 of the ASC Corporate Governance Guidelines. Contributions welcome.

2. Are you following the WOB WAY

We have refreshed our highly effective WOB WAY workshop series with new material and some interesting exercises. We aim to run at least two of each workshop (and more of Getting Started) in each mainland capital city, supported by up market networking events. This includes our new 'Networking with a Twist' event, which are intended for your to extend your networks and invite a colleague - men are always very welcome! We also have regional events in Wollongong (March 11 & 12), the Gold Coast and Newcastle. Thank you to WOBers who assist with finding venues and sponsors for regional events.

Remember that being a WOB Subscriber gives you a substanial discount to our events.

Getting There: My Mentoring

The latest tranche of the WOB WAY series, Getting There: My Mentoring was launched in late 2009. The service is fee based and has a list of 10 highly qualified and professional WOB directors providing a range of mentoring to women seeking advice and support about career directions and board aspirations. Details at: http://www.womenonboards.org.au/professional-development/mymentor/index.htm

3. Are you reading our weekly board vacancies?

Everyone receives our weekly email of board vacancies. If you are not able to access the vacancies then you need to pay a subscription to Women on Boards. The subscription is $132 and excellent value for money, allowing you to access board positions, attend events at significantly reduced rates, and enjoy a range of other benefits. To subscribe please click here to login to your dashboard and select “new subscription”.

4. WOB on the speaking circuit

As leading advocates for improving gender diversity on Australian boards Women on Boards directors, Ruth Medd and Claire Braund, have a wealth of knowledge and information about this topic. Backed up by substantive current and on-going research and delivered with wit and style. To contact us about talking at an event or being part of a panel please contact the new WOB marketing manager, Dorothy Jakob, on marketing@womenonboards.org.au.

5. Career tips: The gender pay gap

The gender pay gap for average weekly earnings is 17 per cent. This means that on average women earn 17 per cent less than men for comparable jobs. The worst performing sector is financial services where the figure is 27 per cent.

ACTION: Why not ask your HR department if your organisation does a gender pay audit?  If not agitate for one. Beware the 'hidden pay gaps', such as bonuses, event tickets and trips away.

6. Article of the month 

Australia's Hidden Resource is an excellent article by Tim Toohey, Chief Economist with Goldman Sachs JB Were that looks at the Economic Case for Increasing Female Workforce. It contains lots of statistics about gender pay gaps and identifying and removing the barriers to equal participation. Click here to read the report (PDF)

7. The Boardroom

Post a vacancy.

Our weekly email about the vacancies is now automatically generated and will arrive your inbox Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning. There is also a new option to post a private vacancy. This means Women on Boards will do a private search of its database for you for a small fee. Contact Ruth Medd on 0419 407 231 to discuss this service. 

Please continue to spread the word that WOB provides a free service to post a vacancy to the exceptional women on our database. The link for more information is: http://www.womenonboards.org.au/vacancy/index.htm 

On Board success stories

  • Bronwyn Klei has joined the Softball SA board.
  • Jane Jeffreys has been appointed to the board of the Port Adelaide Football Club - the first women in SA to be appointed to an AFL Board.
  • Trina Hockley, Managing Director L & M Group of Companies, has been appointed as a member of the Cancer Australia Consumer Network. She has also taken up the Chair for Gold Coast Institute of Tafe.
  • Di Gursansky, Senior Lecturer at the University of South Australia, has been gazetted as a member of the Guardianship Board of SA.
  • Vivien Thomson, a 2009 Diversity on Boards Conference Scholarship winner, has been appointed to the new National Parks and Wildlife Southern Ranges Region Advisory Committee.

 More details at http://www.womenonboards.org.au/boardroom/onboard.htm

8. Profile of the month

Vanessa Fudge, Chairman of Shirlaws, is this month's profile. Read her story at http://www.womenonboards.org.au/subscribe/profiles/index.htm 

9. Supported events & activities

  • Room to Read
  • Launch of Dress for Success Sydney

Supported activities are at: www.womenonboards.org.au/events/external/index.htm